HS Notebook: McDonogh Upsets Haverford in Top 10 Clash

IL's @TyXanders and @ZachBabo made the trip to Philadelphia on Saturday to catch several matchups, including a Top 10 UA/IL tilt between No. 8 McDonogh (Md.) and No. 3 Haverford School (Pa.). Check out Zach's photos in the gallery and Ty's story below.

Hitting the road to play a familiar non-conference opponent, No. 8 McDonogh (Md.) played a complete, dominant game in their opener to knock off No. 3 Haverford (Pa.), 13-8. Hopkins signee Brinton Valis (Hopkins) led the way for the Eagles with five goals from the midfield, including three in a row in the second quarter to take a 7-2 lead into the half.

Though it’s considered an upset, the win didn’t come as a tremendous surprise considering how experienced and senior-laden the Eagles are. Two areas where graduation losses invoked question marks, the face-off situation and in goal, could be erased (for now, at least) as Jordy Elardo won 15 of 23 draws and junior goalie Jacob Stover made nine saves. The victory provides the Eagles with positive momentum going forward, with a bevy of big games in the next few weeks before they begin MIAA play on April 4th.

“Any time you can beat a program coached by one of the best high school coaches in the country [John Nostrant] at their home field, it’s going to give you a lot of confidence,” head coach Andy Hilgartner said on Sunday night after watching the film. “There are definitely ways for us to get better but knowing how good our opponent was, we feel that we can compete with anybody in the country. It’s just one game and there are a lot of great teams on our schedule.”

Heading into Saturday’s contest, a tightly contested game was expected. However, the Eagles produced right from the start and kept their foot on the gas, preventing the Fords’ touted offense from taking high quality shots while playing a smart, relatively fast-paced brand of offense.

In cage, Stover (Loyola) calmly collected three or four saves in the opening minutes and kept it rolling, appearing poised and throwing accurate outlet passes to jumpstart the offense. The defensive unit of seniors Alex Hurdle (Notre Dame), Joey Fiorino (York) and longstick Grady Hearn (High Point), as well as sophomore Princeton commit Arman Medghalchi, locked down their match-ups despite playing without returning starter Calvin Livingston (ankle), a Towson signee.

Haverford, a team that really only plays three seniors, showed their youth on Saturday and despite a countless amount of highly touted Division I commits on offense, never seemed fully comfortable. The Eagles swarmed groundballs and took advantage of the Fords' errors.

In the second half, Haverford was able to come out more energized and together, as reliable senior middie Peter Blynn (Harvard) found the net with 8:56 left in the third to put the deficit at four goals. Penn-bound Alex DeMarco, one of the top sophomore goalies in the country, made some impeccable saves to stymie the Eagles' shooters, though they'd still take a 10-4 advantage into the fourth quarter. DeMarco would finish with a total of nine second half saves after stopping just one in the ballgame's first 24 minutes, though the majority were well-placed and tough to stop.

McDonogh's Trey McGee (Denver) created offense on the attack end with one goal and two assists, while teammates Clark and Black also pitched in three points each. Bobby Austin (Loyola) fired in two goals while Grady Hearn and Barrett Sutley scored one apiece. Haverford longpole Connor Keating led the way with two goals.

Though they'll be just fine this year (there's simply too much talent for them to falter), Haverford will have some regrouping to do.

"“We’re not a good offensive team right now and we have a lot of work to do. It starts with the coaching staff," Nostrant told PhillyLacrosse.com. “In these games we have to figure out what you can do better; that’s why we play these guys. There is not much time to feel sorry for ourselves since we play at Loyola Blakefield on Wednesday.”

McDonogh, who will move up a few spots in the UA/IL rankings on Wednesday, will host public school power Westminster (Md.) that evening. They'll also welcome Episcopal Academy, Haverford's archrival, to campus on Saturday at noon. Meanwhile, Haverford will face their second Top 25 opponent in as many weeks, hosting Connecticut's Brunswick School.